Of Distractions and Phone Conversations
by Defiant Vixen
Summary: Ryou needed to call her friends, except she wasn’t really looking forward to it. How does one explain being snowbound with Seto Kaiba without giving too much away? Well, having said Kaiba distracting you certainly isn’t helping... ::Seto/Ryou, Fem!Ryou::


**Of Distractions and Phone Conversations**

**Summary:** Ryou needed to call her friends, except she wasn't really looking forward to it. How does one explain being snowbound with Seto Kaiba without giving too much away? Well, having said Kaiba distracting you certainly isn't helping...

**Pairings:** Seto/Ryou (or Vixenshipping as suggested by ArlieseBirchwood from "Sweet Revenge")

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Anime Yu-Gi-Oh! or any character associated.

**Warnings:** Female!Ryou. And a mention of OC bashing. No names, just OC bashing in general. What? I had to add it in _somewhere_…

**AN:** Hello again. Just thought I'd try my hand at a YuGiOh oneshot of my favourite pairing. It's a rather pointless oneshot, really. I wanted to experiment with Ryou's character just a little bit more...and to get this plot out of my head so I can concentrate on "Sweet Revenge" instead. Damn plot bunnies...

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, faved and put "Sweet Revenge" on their alert lists. I hope you'll like this one as well.

Comments, suggestions and reviews are all welcomed and encouraged. Do let me know what you think.

* * *

With a shaky hand and a heart fluttering wildly from nerves, Ryou pulled out her mobile and scrolled through her address book, stopping on the number belonging to "Kame's Game Shop". The winter chill in the air touched her shoulders, forming goosebumps across her skin, the thinly strapped singlet top and shorts doing very little to keep the chill at bay. Luckily, though, the thick doona she was snuggling underneath helped greatly.

Still, those little comforts did nothing to ward off the fact that she was hesitant to ring her friends, fearful and a little tongue tied as to what she would tell them. She had gotten herself in a rather...unique situation and wasn't sure how she was going to explain it. Especially to Joey, who was more than content in treating her just like his precious little sister.

Ryou had grown quite a close friendship with his sister, Serenity, the two of them often sharing stories about Joey's over the top protectiveness. Don't get her wrong, it was comforting to have someone willing to beat the crap out of any guy who disrespected you, but to crash-tackle someone in the street for looking at you the wrong way was a little bit much.

And when he hears what situation she got herself into now he'd have a hernia, might even burst a few blood vessels in his forehead and neck, which tend to pulsate dramatically when he was super peeved about something.

And now...she was so screwed.

Chewing on her bottom lip, Ryou decided that it would be in her best interest if she bit the bullet and just make the call. It will most likely be the most awkward phone call of her life, a fact that was only heightened when she tried to sit comfortable, but was thwarted when an arm, strong and masculine, pulled her back onto the warm and cosy queen size bed.

Allowing herself to fall back against the pillows, Ryou rolled over and found herself watching as a pair of sleepily blue eyes blink open, brow furrowing under tresses of dark brown hair, the handsome man slowly reaching consciousness. She stayed silent and still in those strong arms, smiling gently, warmly with only a light dusting of pink on her cheeks when those icy blue eyes locked onto hers.

"Good morning," Ryou greeted affectionately as she momentarily forgot about making any sort of phone calls, instead settling herself cosily into a pair of warm arms, resting her cheek against the exposed skin of his collar bone.

"Morning," came a sleepy, husky reply before a quick kiss was placed on the top of her head before dipping his head down to capture her lips in a good morning kiss.

Here, laying in the arms of a certain handsome CEO was the reason why the phone call she had been fretting over was going to be difficult one to make; she and the one and only Seto Kaiba had been secretly dating for over a year now and none of her friends knew of this little fact.

It was hard for them to get some quality alone time together, especially since Mokuba was the only person who knew of their relationship. Seto had a multi-billion dollar business to run while Ryou was studying to become a registered nurse, helping Seto with both maintaining the health of his employees (those he actually trusted and had been with him for years) as well as offering some ideas of potential Duel Cards as she knew a quite a bit of ancient myths and legends thanks to her father.

She was also there to help ward off any money-grubbing fangirls who thinks Seto is their one and only soulmate and anyone else close to him are just living in denial and/or just being the selfish distraction who wants Seto for themselves.

Those girls, who Mokuba had a habit of calling them SUEs, which stood for Seriously Unrealistic Egotists, flocked to Seto like moths to a flame. Hardly a surprise, though. Seto was handsome, successful, talented, young and rich. Not only that, but he had a tragic past and a mysteriously aloof personality to boot. A haunted young man with pain hidden within the depths of his icy blue eyes, who needed a sexy woman to melt his icy heart and show how to live again, which was achieved by her sassiness and feisty personality alone.

Well, that's what romance novels have been teaching girls these days, anyway. As long as you look hot in whatever you do, nothing else mattered.

Of course, Seto looked at her funny when she had informed him of that after another encounter with a SUE, taking a moment to wonder if she was actually joking and where she got this crap from. He then promptly told her that romance novels aren't meant to be taken as comedies and that he was simply a sarcastic cynic with a very dry sense of humour who happened to gradually fall for one of his brother's less annoying friends, who had a habit of knowing when to talk and when not to say a thing.

Most people probably wouldn't consider something like that romantic, but Seto Kaiba wasn't a romantic person. Ryou knew that before she fell in love with him and she didn't expect him to start spouting romance inspired love poems after they started going out. She's a bit of a dreamer at heart, but she wasn't that unrealistic.

Unlike some fangirls who expect Seto to start drooling and acting like a love-starved fool the moment he laid eyes on them.

Oddly enough, Seto found it a bit of a turn on when she 'got rid' of a Sue for him and he let it know the moment they were alone by kissing her senseless. Not that she minded at all, it boosted her confidence knowing that Seto was hers and no one else's. In fact, the only reason why they haven't come out about their relationship was because Seto feared she would become a target of these SUEs jealousy, the majority not above threatening her with physical harm to prove their sassiness.

But with the types of medical drugs she had in her arsenal or could get her hands on, it shouldn't be hard to take the sassiness right out of them. You really wouldn't want to mess with someone in the medical profession, after all.

She 'got rid' of the girls innocently, mind you. Nothing 'got rid' of unnecessary headaches like a benzodiazepine (formally known as Valium) pill in the SUEs customary glass of water to shut them up mid woe-is-me spiel. Sure, the side-effects and withdrawals aren't at all pretty, and it does look a little suspicious having some of Seto's security personnel hurriedly carry out a limp, scantily dressed fangirl through the back exit and throw her into a nearby skip bin before scattering away like ants, an event that would sometimes happen three to four times a day, depending on the time of year.

Honestly though, having just spent the last few hours listening to her brag about how utterly amazing, beautiful and just generally brimming with _**sparkling awesomeness**_ that she was, even a Saint would snap and want to commit homicide.

Still, even Seto announcing to the world that he was dating someone wouldn't stop these fangirls; breaking up a relationship was hardly a big deal when you're soulmates, don't you know?

"Is it still snowing?" Seto asked her when he broke the kiss, his question pulling her back to reality.

Lifting her head up briefly, Ryou glanced over his shoulder to look out the large bay windows behind him. The sight of trees surrounding the homely cabin they were currently occupying were covered in thick layers of snow, little ice crystals still raining down around them greeted her, making her all the more aware of her present circumstances: she was coincidentally trapped in a secluded, snow covered cabin with Seto Kaiba.

Ok, so she wouldn't use the word trapped, as it tended to off the indication that she didn't really want to be here and was lured here by the evil and sadistic Kaiba. That would be Joey's choice of scenario if he was to find out. She came here under her own free will and while the unexpected snowstorm did strand them together, it most certainly wasn't an inconvenience.

"Yeah," she answered as she snuggled into his arms again. She just loved being in his arms like this. "But the wind has died down."

"Good," he murmured in reply as he peered over the top of her head to glance on the clock on her side of the bed. He then grunted, displeased at the time. "Why are you awake this early?"

Sighing, Ryou reached around to grasp her phone again and showed it to him, to which earned her a light twitch of his eyebrow. She, in turn, gave him a wry smile to indicate that she wasn't looking forward to it herself, but knew it had to be done. The longer she waited to ring the harder it will prove to be to reassure them.

"Must you ring now?" Seto complained.

"I was supposed to ring last night," Ryou informed him, allowing herself another sigh as she sat up in bed, pressing the doona against her chest for the warmth. "I really shouldn't put it off any longer, so hush; I don't want Joey screaming at me and ultimately you through the phone. He's bad enough in person."

An amused smirk slipped across Seto's lips, no doubt thinking about all the times Joey starting ranting and raving at him for some reason. Then, he too sat up in bed, scooted closer against the headboard before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her against him, Ryou giving a content hum as she rested her head on his shoulder.

When they were alone like this, just the two of them, Seto was incredibly affectionate and Ryou loved nothing more than allowing him to take control of the mood. No one would believe her if she told them how sweet he could be, but then again she wouldn't tell anyone in the first place. This was something no one else needed to know about.

Tilting her head back to allow Seto the opportunity to give her a light kiss on the lips, Ryou turned her attention back to her phone and pressed the dial option. No turning back now...

"Hello, Kame's Game Shop, Yugi speaking."

"Good morning, Yugi," Ryou said softly into the phone, half tense and hesitant. She then pressed her lips together in a thin line when she heard Yugi call out that she was on the phone, a wrestling match for said phone piece quickly followed, two disconnected voices filled her ear piece with incoherent mumbling.

Joey was obviously wrestling with Yugi for the phone.

This continued for about a minute, Ryou waiting patiently in a way only she could as they sort themselves out. She could even feel Seto become annoyed at their antics, so she kept a firm grip on her phone so he would take it from her. However, she had to chuckle when she heard Tea's exasperated voice in the background yelling at them to simply use the speaker option.

There was an 'oh' of realization before a fumble for the speak button.

"Where the hell are you? I thought you were supposed to be back yesterday?!"

Ryou winced at the obvious worry in her friend's voice. _Trust Joey to get straight to the point_.

"I'm terribly sorry," Ryou started to explain in a genuine apologetic voice as she really didn't like to worry her friends. "But there was a sudden snowstorm, the weather is terribly unpredictable and I became snowbound at the cabin with Set – ah, Kaiba."

Well, that was almost her first mistake; calling Seto by his first name. Everyone else simply called him Kaiba and she was expected to follow suit.

"Man, you're stuck with Kaiba?" Joey asked with obvious annoyance in his voice before protectiveness followed immediately. "That bastard better not have tried anything!"

Ryou felt her breath hitch in her throat when she heard a very masculine voice chuckle in her other ear and she blushed crimson when a large hand snaked across her stomach.

"No, he didn't try anything, Joey," she assured her friend in a rather quick tone as she was slightly afraid that if she spoke any slower she might stutter, mostly thanks to the fact that the hand was playing with the hem of her shirt.

_No, he didn't try anything_, Ryou thought to herself as she fought to keep her voice even, slapping at his hand with her free one. _He bloody well succeeded_.

Trying and doing something was two completely different things, so, if one was to be technical, she answered that question truthfully.

"I bet it must be a pain being stuck with Kaiba," Tea added a moment later, her tone just brimming with sympathy. "Especially on the weekend."

"It hardly been a chore," Ryou murmured under her breath with a slight twitch of her lips, which prompted another chuckle from the man beside her.

"Are we talking about the same Kaiba?!" Joey all but yelled into the phone after a long pause.

Ryou wanted so badly to inform him that she most certainly wasn't talking about Mokuba, so in turn, she must have been talking about the same Kaiba he was, but she quickly decided against it. Her sarcastic retort would only cause Joey to exclaim loudly that being in Seto's presence was starting to taint her or rub off on her and that she needed someone to come rescue her.

"Easy guys," came Yugi's voice, doing his best to once again play the pacific. "Seto isn't that bad."

No, he wasn't bad at all.

"Anyway, did he thank you?" Yugi continued.

Ryou hesitated, mostly due to the question, but the fact that Seto was stroking her bare arm which made her shiver for reasons other than the cold did very little to help. "Ah, in a way..."

Over the phone, the sound of Joey snorting in disbelief immediately followed. "Well, it better have! Dude, you hand-delivered a so-called important document the bastard left behind."

Document? What...? Oh, that was right!

The reason she used to explain why she was even in this cabin with Seto was to return something to him she knew he needed for an upcoming business meeting, which never really existed in the first place, but now could use the excuse that it was cancelled due to the weather. She made up the excuse of the documents importance, using the fact that she had been helping Seto with a few design schemes to use for possible future gaming cards.

"I left a document behind?" Seto murmured into her ear once again, a sense of mirth in his voice.

Ryou quickly placed her hand over the mouth piece of the phone. "First thing that came to mind," she explained in a hushed voice, to which he only answered with a smirk, his hands still rather persistent.

Honestly, it was like he was trying to make it as difficult as possible for her.

Nudging him a little in an attempt to get the point across that his fevered touches weren't helping her in the slightest, Ryou granted her boyfriend a rare look of exasperation. "Can't you go do something and let me flail here in private?"

Seto gave her an amused snort. "I want to hear what happens next," he explained with thick sarcasm.

Ryou simply sighed, knowing there was nothing she could to argue with him, especially with the sound of Joey's voice ranting on the other end of the phone ringing out.

"I mean, dude, you should get paid for doing that," Joey added

This time Ryou was the one who had a small chuckle. Money? She didn't want any of Seto's money; she never did and if he went broke tomorrow she wouldn't care. Besides, what amount of money could buy was she had now. "I got something better," she said lowly, only loud enough for Seto to hear.

That, of course, earned her chaste kiss to her lips.

"Eh?" Came Joey's disbelieving tone. "What did you say? You dropped out there."

"Hmm?" Ryou hummed in reply, becoming a little too lost in Seto's administrations. "No, I didn't say anything."

"So, how did he thank you?"

Of course, Yugi just had to ask her that, didn't he? Albeit innocently as he had no idea what was really going on here, but she really couldn't explain _that_ over the phone.

"...You know, just a thank you," Ryou replied dismissively, unable to stop the feeling of heat from gracing her cheeks when Seto started scattering more kisses on the side of her neck.

"You're awfully evasive, Ryou," came Tea's rather accusing voice through the phone. "Is there something wrong?"

"No," Ryou quickly replied, but with a rather squeaky voice before she abruptly cleared her throat in an attempt to sound less...suspicious. "No, of course not."

She really did try not to give them any more reasons to be suspicious, but honestly, with Seto distracting her like he was, she was lucky to be able to string an entire sentence together.

Oh, enough was enough.

"I really must go now," Ryou said quickly, urgently. "Seto and I are about to have breakfast and then have a long chat about phone etiquette."

A stunned silence immediately followed and she knew that, without a shadow of a doubt, she had unwillingly made them even more suspicious. All Seto's fault, of course. Never mind the fact that she was pretty horrible at lying.

Ah, who cares? She'll deal with the fallout later.

"Ya what?"

"...Did you just call Kaiba by his first name?"

"I didn't know you and Kaiba were friends."

"Ah, we're not really friends, perse," Ryou stumbled over her words, Seto finding a bit too much enjoyment in her flailing. She had better end this right now before she snaps. "Gotta go, talk to you later."

"Wait a sec-!" Came the protest, but was cut short when she pressed the end call button the very second she pulled the phone away from her ear, letting the contraption hit the bed with a dissatisfied thump.

"You were of no help whatsoever," Ryou murmured, half from annoyance and half from defeat when her phone started ringing again a mere moment later. She didn't even have to look at the object to know who was trying to get into contact with her.

"Hmm?" Seto simply hummed at her, somewhat ignoring her as he pressed a kiss to her shoulder, Ryou effortlessly feeling the smirk of his lips. "Got you off the phone quicker, didn't it? "

"One way of looking at it, I guess," Ryou mumbled. "But another is that we now have a more suspicious Joey and friends on our backs."

A snort from Seto gave the indication that he could care less about that, even admitting to her once that he found Joey's enraged outbursts somewhat amusing, in a dry, sadistic sort of way.

"Now," Ryou suddenly stated as she turned around to face Seto fully, placing a hand on his chest as she looked him straight in the eyes. "It's your turn."

Seto gave her a slightly puzzled look. "Hn?"

Ryou smiled innocently up at him. "It's your turn to ring your brother. I'm sure he's worried, right?"

Realization immediately dawned on Seto's features and he gave a rather uncharacteristic wince. "Dammit."

Ryou chuckled as Seto began to fish around for his own phone, muttering something about Mokuba having too much fun with this. While Ryou had some overly protective friends, he had a brother who loved nothing more than to tease him relentlessly in a way only a little brother could. While Seto had a sharp tongue specially made for insults, business meetings gone sour and deranged fangirls; suggestive teasing from his own flesh and blood left him flailing.

It was cute to see!

Settling herself against the pillows, Ryou decided that she was going to find a bit of enjoyment watching Seto squirm for once.


End file.
